About a Girl — Jim Thompson

“About a Girl” Tom and his friends get together for a night out on the town after a days work. The guys have a routine that they follow and all end up meeting at a local bar called “Tail Feathers”. Once they meet there for a few drinks they head downtown to the bar and Club scene that Philly is well known for. They stop at a bar where Tom meets Colleen. They both know each other and got along, but they never really liked one another. After that they go down to a club where Tom is avoiding Amy, a girl that he sees on and off. There the guys hang out until Colleen asks Tom for assistance with a situation regarding a guy that is bothering her. Tom helps her out and they end up hitting it off. When he takes her home that night, Tom realizes that he cares for her and decides that he isn’t going to sleep with her when she is intoxicated. He wants to base this relationship on something more that sex. This is the first time that he has ever tried this and has some trouble handling it. Tom and Colleen date for awhile and Tom is working hard to get the relationship going in the right direction. It goes well until some of her friends come in from out of town and destroy things between them. Tom and Colleen end up just trying to be friends at the same time he realizes that he is in love with her. Friendship isn’t easy for Tom. Colleen calls him up one night to go hang out with her. She starts kissing him and making him thing that there is still something between them. Tom gets heart broken when he sees her making out with another guy and acting like there was nothing wrong. Tom attempts to start a fight, but Seth talks him out of it. After that Colleen sees that Tom is upset and when coming over to see what is wrong, she offers him another dose of pain.In getting over that which happened between he and Colleen, Tom goes back with Amy. He isn’t looking for anything but a casual relationship and she eventually steps over the line. Tom is forced to make her get the point and publicly humiliates her. After that Tom realizes what he had done and has to deal with the consequences. Seth knowing well the problems he was having dealing with what happened between Colleen and Tom as well as how Tom felt about what he had done to Amy. Gets him to go out to a club and get his mind off things. Against his will, Tom ends up meeting a girl named Mary that night. Seth met Julie and she brought Mary over to meet Tom. Tom and Mary date for almost a year and actually talked about marriage once Tom finished school and got a good job. Tom knew that he wasn’t in love with her and never could be either. He was still in love with Colleen, but he cared for Mary and she loved him. Then one night Tom had to call her to pick him up from work in the early morning. She never made it there to pick him up. Tom blames himself for the loss of Mary and has a difficult time dealing with it. He finally finishes school and an internship with a local company. He gets a job in San Diego and goes away for a few months. When the company decides that he can work from home, Tom goes back to Philly to pick up his life. The company does great and Tom in turn makes a large amount of money. He started living the good life and enjoying himself. Until his father’s death gives him a serious reality check. Tom decides to humble himself again and just try to be happy. He goes to a Christmas party for his work at a club. There he gets into a fight and Colleen ends up being there for him. They start back into a relationship, but Tom needs to tell her how he feels in order to know that she understood. When he tells her this, it scares her off. Tom is very confused about things at this point and Amy calls him up for help. Tom realizes that she is a good person and that he cares, so he helps her out and they regain their friendship. While Tom and Amy maintain a friendship, Tom meets April. She reminds him a lot of Mary and he has the same feelings for her. He remembers the fate of Mary and doesn’t want the same for April, but he still can’t figure out what to do and it causes problems between them. Tom tries to figure things out, but still cannot. Then April’s Mother gets deathly sick and Tom ensures that he is around for her and her family to help them all out. In turn, Tom becomes even closer to April than before. After things settle down, April takes Tom to an engagement. There by no effort of his own, Tom runs into Colleen and April takes notice of the tension. This causes minor problems again for Tom to deal with. Finally April forces Tom to decide what he is going to do. Colleen realizes that she is in love with Tom after all. And he makes a decision that he thinks is best.